1. Technical Field
This invention relates to an aqueous process for the production of cranberry extracts and more particularly to a process for recovering various color and solid values from cranberry presscake and the product of such process. Whereas the major focus of this invention has to do with the treatment of cranberries it will be seen as equally applicable to other natural color wastes such as grape waste, roselle, black currant, etc. which are similarly benefitted by removal of astringent and/or bitter flavor principles to be hereinafter discussed.
2. Background Art
Heretofore, cranberry presscake, a waste product of cranberry juice extraction, has been considered as a source of red color but its bitter and astringent off-flavors restricted its utility to low levels of usage or as a colorant for cranberry beverages such as cranberry cocktail. An approach by Chiriboga, et. al., Ion Exchange Purifed Anthocyanin Pigments As A Colorant For Cranberry Juice Cocktail, Journal of Food Science, volume 38 (1973) pp. 464-467 has been to separate the color components from the cranberry extract with ion exchange resins. Other art teaches acidic methanol and ethanol as preferred over water as an extractant.
Cranberry presscake is available at multiple sites where juice is produced. However, because it is a waste material, it cannot be shipped for processing because of potential microbiological problems and/or cost. Most desirably an aqueous process would be employed for the present process, on site so-to-speak, at the cranberry processing plant where the presscake would be available as a byproduct.